Bronze Fine Arts and Art Installation Design · 2022
Tear and Discover Furniture
- A' Design Award 2022 Bronze Winner in Fine Arts and Art Installation Design
- Awarded April 15, 2022
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 9,589
- Verification code 3C870D151D · Verify this award
About Tear and Discover Furniture
Tear and Discover is an art installation made of four household products: a speaker, a floor lamp, a clock and a fan. Each object is fully wrapped in leather, so the sound, the light, the time and the air flow are hidden. To use a function, the visitor must cut the leather cover. The leather and its labels stand for the symbolic value of goods, while the parts inside provide the use value. All covers are shaped by hand from 1.5 mm vegetable-tanned leather and held by stainless steel supports. The work questions the relation between sign and function in consumption.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- The work consists of four household products, speaker, floor lamp, clock, and fan, which are covered inside the leather. The leather and labels represent the symbolic value of the goods, while the functional components inside the leather deliver the use-value. This design emphasizes the contradiction between sign and function in the product consumption through a destructive interaction to 'cut' the signed cover and liberate the function.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- speaker,345*345*1427mm
floor lamp,372*305*1930mm
clock,455*140*100mm
fan，360*200*1610mm - Tags
- art, craft, furniture, speaker, floor lamp, clock, fan
- Production Technology
- This work uses the leather wet shaping craft, the leather surface and stainless steel support form a strong visual tension. The whole set of products is all made of 1.5mm whole vegetable-tanned leather. After soaking for 8 hours, awakening the active protein of the leather and giving the leather better ductility. After it is wrapped on the shaping mold and shaped by hand, giving the product shapes a soft curve and organic sense.
- Design Challenge
- The most difficult part of this design is the expression of the mindset.
Firstly, how to express the idea through the design language? After many times discussion, The use of metaphorical forms of wrapping, highlighting and rupture, and contradictory interactions were confirmed.
Secondly, how to shape the leather into the form? This step took many material tests and prototypes before the final form was created. - Project Duration
- The project starts in November 2020 in Shanghai and is completed in 2021 in Shanghai, where it will be exhibited in June.
- Operation Flow
- The work covered by leather, functions are hidden inside——the sound is obscured, the light is covered, the time is hidden, the wind is blocked, in order to use the functions, the user needs to cut the leather through destructive interactions and destroy the complete leather the user's thoughts will be aroused during the interaction.
- Research
- The work have taken the‘Consumption society’ as our research direction and the commodity as the object for our project. The design want to discuss the relationship between symbol, function, and commodity and reflected on the design. Through research the design aim to express the contradiction between symbolic value and use-value of products in the consumer society where signs are proliferating.
- Inspiration
- Living in the current era of consumption, symbolic consumption has gradually changed our mindset of on-demand consumption, and the functions of products have been obscured by the virtual signs created by capital. The endless pursuit of the sign has accelerated the waste of material. Therefore the work rethought the relationship among signs, functions, and design.
- Image Credits
- Jie Gao, Hengguang Wu
- Patents
- Jie Gao
Hengguang Wu